European Whirl
by Buffalo
Summary: The Castle's "invite" Kate on a trip through Europe


A/N –Hello everyone, for those of you who were reading Bound to Be. Thank you. I don't think there were many of you ;) I am still working on that fic but I am doing it more just for fun on the side so it won't be updated on any kind of regular basis. I'm too attached to Cole to get rid of it completely.

This is a different fic entirely, and I don't own castle if I did the show would be an HBO and there would be a whole lot more skin!

CBCB

Detective Kate Beckett had never felt so comfortable in her entire life. Her long legs pushed out from under the feather filled duvet, sliding against the softness of the sheets beneath her. She couldn't contain the pleasure filled sigh that escaped, as she burrowed herself deeper into the mass of blankets and pillows. She inhaled the salty, fresh scent of the ocean and then as if remembering where she was sat bolt upright in the giant bed.

"What the hell," she cried out, jumping from the bed and taking in the whitewashed walls around her. Her eyes instantly searched the room for something familiar, something that would tell her how she had gotten there. Her mind went into overdrive as she attempted to fill in the blacks of her mental murder board. She'd been shot, yes. That was a month ago, her hand instantly found the scar that, though healing nicely was still visible running down the middle of her chest. Castle had been there, he'd told her he loved her. He'd been parked beside her bed for hours when she woke up after the quick surgery. His face had been drawn and pale, week. But that had been a month ago, she pushed her memories forwards, what had happened between now and then. Where had all of the filler gone?

A cool breeze pushed its way in through a set of French doors opposite the large bed and she was momentarily distracted. The white curtains billowed in the wind and her breath caught at the view from her small balcony. Deep navy waters as far as she could see, stopped only by the pale blue of the sky, it was breathtaking.

A creek from what she assumed were stairs on the other side of her door had her back in detective mode and she instantly searched for her gun. Her hands rubbed themselves up and down her sides. It was proof that her brain wasn't functioning properly because she was dressed in a black tank and a pair of underwear, there really wasn't anywhere to hide a gun on her body.

Her mind pushes to remember how she has gotten there as the footsteps draw nearer. Memories from the past month came flying across her mind. She sees Lanie helping her out of bed, Castle reading to her from the chair beside her bed. Sees herself running on a tread mill with Alexis beside her; Esposito and Ryan telling her about the new Captain; Castle again this time he's kissing her, distracting her. It's a good distraction but a distraction none the less and she knows that this distraction is the reason her memories are so foggy. She knows that the distraction is why she has no idea where she is.

When she rips the door open, she's not even a little bit surprised to see Richard Castle, a look of shock and fear clearly visible across his face.

"Give me one good reason not to shoot you dead right now?" Her own semi fearful look appears on her face as his expression changes from that of shock into one of hunger; his eyes take her in, inch by inch starting from her bare feet up to her eyes. He pauses there and that cocky grin she would never be able to forget makes an appearance.

"Because you don't know where your gun is," he pauses as she thinks about this then adds, "and I do." The grin on his face widens and she isn't sure if she wants to slap it away, or kiss it away.

"Castle, what the hell is going on? And for that matter where the hell am I?" Kate turned around and walked back into the room. Not really knowing what to do with herself and wanting to cover up, she climbed back into the bed and pulled the big duvet over her body. She has to fight the urge to sink back into the covers at the feel of the soft fabric once again on her bare skin.

Castle takes one of the big blue chairs that sit on either side of the French doors. He's wringing his hands nervously and it's making her think she will be pretty pissed when he finally tells her where they are.

"Kate," she just can't get used to the sound of her first name rolling so easily off his lips. He'd been using it a lot in the past month; that much she can definitely remember.

"Would you mind also filling me in on why my memories are so choppy?"

"Side effect of the drugs," Alexis smiled as she burst into the room and hopped up onto the bed. Kate took in the word drugs and her eyes flickered from one Castle to another, she had to admit she was pretty happy to have Alexis there. The thought of it being just her and Castle alone on some beach holiday conjured up memories of the last time they kissed; the distraction. It makes the image of a giant sign with the word danger written in blood red flash before her eyes, but it stills doesn't stop the little tingle in the pit of her stomach; the one that hasn't disappeared since he opened the door and she caught him staring at her like she was a piece of something edible.

"You put up such a stink about coming with us, and it wasn't like they were going to let you back into the precinct only a month after being shot in the chest. You're too stubborn sometimes Kate, besides all of this fresh sea air…when we get home you'll be able to go right back to work!"Alexis continued to let the answers fly forth, the problem was that Kate didn't have enough of the questions to make it all fit.

"I'm sorry; did I just hear that correctly? You invited me somewhere. I said no, so you kidnapped me!" Kate rose onto her knees in the bed. She was ready to attack, so little Castle jumped in with more answers.

"It was kind of your idea, besides I know you wanted to come. You were just afraid I wouldn't get my quality time in with dad so you made up all these excuses. One after another of lame excuses that were far too easy to counter." Kate could feel her face contorting as different emotions and thoughts ran through her mind.

"Alright Alexis, thanks for the help but I think I should take it from here. Why don't you go into town with grams and get some things for dinner?"

"Your mother is here too," Kate exclaimed, "Castle, where the hell is here?"She fixed him with a look that said cut the crap as Alexis slipped back out the door.

Castle got up from his spot and closed the door behind Alexis. When he turned around he had a serious look on his face. It was gone almost as instantly as it was there and before she could say anything else to him he had one arm wrapped around her waist and the other in her hair. His lips covered hers expertly and as corny or cliché as it sounded, it felt like coming home.

She felt her body relax into the kiss, she was still on her knees in the bed. It would be so easy to pull him back with her, instead she opened her mouth brought the kiss to a new level entirely. The hand that was in her hair moved down her body, touching as much as it could on its way. Her skin burned beneath his fingers and she couldn't hide the moan when he cupped her ass and brought her up against him.

The shock of his obvious arousal was enough to clear her mind a little more. A few more memories made their way to the forefront and she pushed him aside.

"Oh my God we're in Europe aren't we?" She faintly remembered a conversation, something about always having wanted to take Alexis to Europe. Her voice was breathy as she spoke, her body still attuned to his movements and though she had pulled her lips from his, their lower bodies were still tightly pressed together.

"Europe is a very large continent," He mumbled his lips descending on her neck. Distracting her once again, this time she pulled away more completely. Rolling backwards off the bed and wincing at the slight pain that tugged at her chest. The shot really hadn't been so bad, she hadn't been wearing a vest but the bullet had gone right through, it had nipped at her left lung and cracked a few ribs but that had been the extent of the damage. She'd been up and hammering them to let her get back to work only a week later, she'd been hella' wobbly which was one of the reasons they'd talked about disappearing for awhile, while she healed. Once off the bed she walked over to the French doors and stepped onto a small balcony. Her hands gripped the brass railings and she took in the tiny roads, old cars and rows upon rows of mismatched brick and stone houses. It had been years since she had been there but she remembered it like yesterday.

"We're in Brighton," She sighed, how the hell had he gotten her to Brighton, England without her knowing about it. He must have flown them privately; no commercial airline would allow him to carry on someone who was unconscious.

He walked up behind her, his hand coming to rest on the railing on either side of her. He was effectively trapping her there. Which was fine because she really didn't know what to say, or do; she was in Brighton, she was in England.

His hand brushed the hair hanging down her back to the side and his lips still warm from their earlier kisses latched onto the back of her neck. She tensed at the touch initially and then sighed into it. His lips worked a path along the back of her neck stopping only to bite down at her nape. "I remembered you telling me about your mom always wanting to come here. I remember the way you spoke about getting to come yourself in college, I thought it would be a nice place for you to wake up.

She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from saying something she wouldn't be able to take back. She was desperately fighting with herself to hide the effect he was having on her but when his hands moved up to her possessively cup her breasts, and she couldn't contain the movement of her hips as she pushed herself back and into him.

"You said you wanted to disappear, and I've wanted to take Alexis to Europe for so long. It just worked. Please don't be angry with me, it would upset Alexis if she thought you didn't want to be here with us." Kate was trapped between wanting to turn around and let him know exactly what she thought about them taking her to Europe without her knowledge, but she would never hurt Alexis, and he knew that.

"You are so going to pay for this Castle," She murmured turning around in his arms and running the pad of her thumb along his bottom lip. When had she fallen so in love with him?

From the moment she had woken up in that hospital room they had been different. It was odd, how it had all come to be; how they had come to be. Josh had been there checking on her, he hadn't been allowed to operate because of their relationship and she knew that losing that control would be extremely difficult for the doctor. He hadn't been there when she had first woken up; it had been Castle and Alexis sitting beside her bed when her eyes first opened. When the Josh came running in twenty minutes later she'd felt the instant guilt that came with knowing you didn't love someone the way you were supposed to.

He'd read it on her face, seen the way she clutched Castle's hand like a life line. After only a moment of awkward silence from all four people in the room he'd walked forward and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

"You don't know how happy it makes me to know that you're going to be you again. Please try not to push yourself to hard," with an odd combination of humor and sadness he nodded at Castle and then he'd disappeared. She hadn't seen or heard from him since.

After that it had been so easy with Castle, things had just slowly morphed into what they were now. There hadn't been one big intense kiss, or a month of longing desire filled glances that couldn't be acted upon. It had been a month filled with tiny kisses, some pushing the limits of her recovery others reassuring in their calm gentleness. It had been a month filled with fingers and hands touching and roaming places that were definitely pushing the limits of her recovery.

"And I am so looking forward to that Detective; tell me you're going to use handcuffs?" Kate rolled her eyes and pushed him away.

"So, do I have clothes here?"

"In the closet, we unpacked for you but don't get too comfortable it's Tuesday and we're only in Brighton until Friday then we're headed to up to London, mother wants to see a show!" His eyes widened grandly and she tried to hide the smile that was pushing its way forward.

"When did we get here? How long have I been out?"

"We flew into a private airfield south of London late last night, we got to Brighton a little past midnight and its almost noon."

"That must have been some pretty potent stuff you used on me, wiped my memory clean when I first woke up." She pushed her legs into a pair of denim Capri's and tossed buttoned a short sleeved blouse over the black tank. Her stomach growled and they both laughed.

"Come on, there should be some left-over's from breakfast this morning in the kitchen. Alexis and mother will be back in no time with lunch." Castle slipped his hand into hers and she squeezed back comfortably. She couldn't get over how easy it was to just be with him.

"Hey Rick," She stopped him as they were about to descend the stairs, he was one step below her and with her feet bare they were exactly the same height.

"Thank you," she let her fingers brush through his hair and leaned in to kiss him.

"Does this mean I can kidnap you whenever I want now?" He smirked and she huffed at his typical behavior.

"I'm sure I am going to regret this later on in my life, but go right ahead." She closed her lips over his for a quick minute and then bounced past him and down the stairs.

CBCB

A/N – Thanks so much for reading! I just wanted to explain this fic a bit. This fic is going to be a fluffy romp through Europe, the summer before they have to be grown-ups again. I am going to write some T chapters and some M chapters. The 'm' rated will go under a diff story title called 'European Escapades' and will mostly be about how many places in Europe our fave couple can get it on. If anyone has ideas of places (maybe the balcony of the Eifel tower – I'm sure Castle could arrange a private meal up there! Or anywhere) let me know. For the 'T' fic if you know of a place in Europe you'd like them to visit let me know.

I have been super fortunate to travel thoroughly through Europe but it's been about 4 years since I was last there and can use any refreshers you've got!

Happy reading!


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